Valve



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Patented .lara Z0, 1925.

UNITED 'slr-Arias ALFRED v, sins, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

vA-Lvn.

AppneationfuedDecember as," i916. y semaine. 139,236.

T 0 all whom #may concern Be it knownthatl, ALFRED V. Suis, a citizen of the `United States, residing at New York city,"c 'ou'nty of New York, and State vof New York, havevinvented new and useful Improvements in Valves, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto valve structures', and more `particularly it relates to l such structures wherein the valve is lifted 'from its seat by fluid pressure and lis returned to its seat when the opening pressure is removed. e *y l One object of the invention is to provide a structure through which the fluid will pass with a minimum expenditure of energy This' is accomplished by so directing the fluid as to reduce to a yminimumrthe resistance opposing it while l it is passing through the valve seat, thereby conserving and ec-onomizing the energy expended in the forcing of the fluid througlrthe valve mechanism. To attain this object of the invention, the vertical component of the fluid forces acting againstthe valve Vis reduced and the valve mechanism is constructed so that the fiuid'flows smoothly through the mechanism, the components of resistance acting against it being eliminated `to a large extent. Furthermore the reduction of the vertical component of the fluid force acting againstthe bottom of the valve ope-rates to reduce the impact of the valve closure, thus decreasing the liability to breakage and other damaging effects as well as the pounding noise of operation. The reduction of energy necessary to yeffect passage of the fluid through'the valve structure as above referred to, in other words, the increase in efficiency of the mechanism as a fluidr trans- 'inission device, is effected by the shape and inclinations of the walls of the fluid passages and consequently the shape and inclinations of the surfaces of the ribs extending between the hub and rimp'of the valve seat. These Lcrosssections Vare made such that the lines bounding them and which lie in the walls o f the water passages are straight. The fluid-' may thus flow more directly from oneside of the valve to the other, so that although no two laterally adjacent elemental columns of fluid travel in parallel lines, yet no elemental column is deflected from its course by the ribs during its passage through'the valvev seat. This results in a reduction of theliability to frictheir surfaces presented to the'fluid passages' are warped surfaces generated by straight .lines'as will be hereinafter again referred to. 'lith this construction, that is, with the surfaces! of the ribs making greater angles withthe valve seat plane adjacent to the hub than adjacent tothe rim, and bearing in mind that the elementalcolumns of ifluid passing through the valve are actuated by `forces tending to produce like velocities, those columns nearest the hub more `quickly, impinge against the under surface` of the valve and aredeflected outwardly against the elemental columns more remote from the hub, thuscausing them to take `a resultant motion inthe direction of a shorter and smoother Vpath through the valve mechanism than'if they impinged directly against the valve and were abruptly turned'to one side as would be the case if `the 4'deflecting influence mentioned were not present. Thel fluid thus: passes through the valve structure without vthe formation of swirls and spaces 'of negative pressures' near the hub. With the elemental columns making :acute angles with *the valve or disk, it follows that a greater velocity of the pass- ,ing fluid is required in order that the resultant vertical component of the force againstv the valve may produce agiven liftingyeflfect than would be thecase if these columns were vertical, and since the discharge through the structure ina given time is proportional' to the velocity vof the passing n fluid and to the area of the opening, it follows that for a given Alifting y,ofv the valve the greater velocity,"such` asis produced by least confusion of elemental columns (which is the result of the straight line passage of elemental columns of fluid as before referred to as distinguished from curvilinear paths produced by ribs `curvilinear in cross-sec tionl, will `Yresult in aigreater volume of fluid passing Vfor "a given lez'rpenditure of energy and with a proportionate resultant efficiency of operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a valve structure wherein the valves will be turned or rotated at each operation so that it will be reseated in a different position with relation to the seat- ,froin that vwhich it occupied previously. The purpose of thus turning the valve is to prevent the valve and seat from always occupying the same position with relation to each other otherwise irregularities in the surfaces being always directed against thev same portions, are liable to cause irregular wear, leakage and slip. The rotation of the valve, however, brings new points of the valve and seatin juXta-position so that the wear is uniformly distributed. According to the present invention an improved means for accomplishing rotation of the valve about its axis is provided, this rotation being effected without regard to any turning effect which the fiuid passing through the seat may exert on the valve, so that it is immaterial whether such turning effect is present or not, or in which direction it is exerted. This is of importance because, among other things, it permits the valve seat to be designed for greatest efficiency as arfiuid transmitter or for eliminating pound or both, the design not being hampered bythe necessity of providing a valve turning component.

A further object of the invention is to provide cushioning' means between the movable mechanism of the valve structure and the seat construction. l

A further object of the invention is to provide a seat structure with an enlarged and more efiicient port area.

A. further object of the invention is to provide improved bearing surfaces for wrenches so that liability to injuring the valve seat during its installation is greatly lessened.

Other and ancillary objects of the invention will 'appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention,

Fig. l is a side elevation of a valve enibodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical central section on the line 3*--3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 is aI bottom plan view of the guard plate; Y

Fig. i is a top plan view of the seat structure;

Fig. 5 is a diagram'showing the manner of generating the surfaces of the ribs between the hub and rim of the valve seat;

Figs.V 6 and are fragmentary sections showing modified structures of the cushioning means between the movable portions of the valve structure and the portion against which it abuts; and

Figz is a sectional view, partly broken away, of a modification in which the guard plate is supported by the stem.

eferring to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1 to t inclusive, the valve-seat structure comprises a riln 'l and a centrallnib 2 secured together by ribs 3, the upper faces -l of the rim and 5 of the hub forining a. seat for the valve. The valve disk G adapted to co-operate with the valve seat may be of suitable material such as hard rubber which is preferably reinforced as by a flat, annular, metal ring 7 embedded in it. This reinforcement has a peculiar effectiveness in the structure shown for the ieason as will hereinafter appear, that the valve disk is, when in closed position subjected to fluid pressure without the protecting influence of the guard plate. Mounted upon the hub 2 of the seat structure, as b v screwing thereinto, is a central post or stem 8 carrying the head 9. Mounted to easily slide upon the stein S is the metal guard plate 10. The central hub or boss 11 of the guard plateV extends through a central aperture in the valve disk and rests upon the hub of the valve seat structure, the proportions being such that when the valve disk is on its seat the guard plate 10is held slightly elevated so as to form a clearance 12 between the bottom of the guard plate and the valve disk. On the under side of the guard plate are eut channels or grooves 13 making angles with radii of the plate so that when fiuid is forced along them a coniponent circumferential of the plate and valve will be produced. A. spring 14 interposed between the head 9 and the guard plate tends to force the guard plate toward the valve disk and seat.

lt will be observed that portions of the hubs 2 and ll are made to telescope with each other by counter sinking the hub 2 at 15,7the bottoni of the hub 1l projecting into the space thus formed with easy clearance. The object of this is to cushion the moving parts when the valve closes. The recess in one member will. while the valve lifted. fill with fluid which will be pocketed by the entering projection of the co-operating member, thc two nicinbers being then perniitted to slowly come together as the fluid oozes out through the clearance between the parts. Oliiviously the retarding el'ec! thus produced will depend upon the amount of clearance between the parts. Where it` is not considered .necessary to cushion the iinpact, cushioning means may be omitted, the end of the hub on the guard plate comino; against the plane upper face of the sea t huh.

The ribs 3 have warped surfaces o lt rectilinear transverse section, that is to say the sections are bounded.y by straight lines at those sides forming the walls of the Huid passages through the valve structure. Such walls are generated by straight lines, as

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generators, moving in contact with lines either stra-ight. or curved, as. directrices.

Thus `in the structure shown. in. Fig".y 4:', 'one surface of a vane is generated by a straight line moving lalong the curved line 16a-t t-he top ef the valve seatwas onewdrrectrlx and' the directrices to form the warped surface.V

Similarly the opposite surface of the rib may be generated by a straight line moving along the curved liner 19: at the top of the seat and the staiight lline 20 at' the bottom of theseat structure. It' wilal be seen that in the structure shown, the twoY directrices of a rib, as the curved.' line 16 and the straight line 17 are upon the same side of the hub of the .valve seat. That is` to say', the points at which the upper and lower directors join the hub, as by intersect-ing, or merging with or .being tangent thereto, lie within they semicircle of the seat which contains the rib of said directors. `l'twill further be observed that the directrices are not radial, i. e. the straight line and the chord ofi the curved line do not pass through the anis of the seat but to one side thereof.

A smoother flow of water and increase of port area is obtained by cuttingjout or forming recesses in the otherwise circularrim of the valve seat at the top between the suc cessive ribs as sho vn at 21, this cutaway portion being the greatest ust backl of each rib where it joins the top of the rim and tapering cir-'cumferentially as shown in Fig. y-t. Also `this cutaway portion tapers-downwardly as shown in Fig. 2. Distributed about the top of the rim, `preferably at the thicker portions thereof and at the inside of the rim, are recesses 22 adapted to receive the projections of a wrench in turning the valve. This provides a reliable means whereby the valvev seat may be turned in either direc-tion, in installing or demounting it, without danger of injuring the structure.. Vithout a wrench hold provided on. the rim the only parts which lwould afford a hold would be the ribs which are liable to be distorted or broken by such use, and furthermore, when the ribs are inclined, they provide a hold for but one direction of turning on one side ofthe seat.

As shown in the drawings the valve is closed and under such circumstances the clearance 12, includingthe vanes in the guard plate` will be filled with liuid. As soon as there is sutlicient unbalanced pressure upon the under side of the valve disk the valve will be forced upwardly. This will result in the squeezing` out of the fiuid between the valve disk andthe guard plate,

the vai-ies of the guard plat-e giving a circumferential' turning to the fluid. It will be observed that fromv the. time of' lifting the val-ve until it comes in contact with the guard plate the valve dislr` will be fluid borneI soi-fthat it isf'easily turned bythe turn ing' effect exerted upon it by the Huid flowing outwardly between the disk and guard plate, which is given a tangential component by the grooves or vanes of the guard plate. lt wil-'lbeobserved that between the hub of the guard plate and the valve; disk is a smally clearance. The distance which the valve moves from its seat before coming in contact with the gua-rd plate is very small in: most' cases not over one-sixteenth of an inch, but in this short movement it is rotated sufficiently, a movement of one-hundre'dth ofv an inch on the seat of a valve of ordinary sizebeing suicient. In this small movement of' the valve however, during which turning takes place and which occupies ay short space of time, the valve opening is not sufficient to permit the; fluidV through the valve ports to acquire sufficient velocity to have any appreciable'etiect upon the turning of the valve and consequently this turning is depende-ntr upon the action of the fluid between the valve and guard plate as before referred to.

The valve disk having come against the guardplate its turning move-ment ceases and itsl further upward movement operates to compress the spring lili until the upper limit of movement of the valve has been reached. As soon as the pressure on the seat side of the valve has been sufficiently reduced, the guard plate and disk will be returned towardsthe seat. The guard plate will come to rest, separated from the valve, being` cushioned in its impact as already described, while the fluid pressure will force the valve disk against its'seat. This completes a cycle ofopening and closingof the valve and may be repeated indefinitely.

Referring to Fig. G, the impact of the 'guard plate 23 against the seat 24 is arrested by a washer 25 which 1s bent as shown, this washer resting upon the valve seat and adapted to receive the hub of the guard plate as it moves into closed position. The resistance to the guardplate is afforded not only by the spring` of the metal of the washer but by reason of the washer being bent anda small clearance is formed between the washer and valve seat. The washer therefore can only give wav to the impact of the guard plate as the fluid whichhas collected between the washer and the valve seat oozes therefrom. An action something like a dash-pot action is thus afforded.

The guard plate supporting member as shown in Fig. 7 is similar to that shown in 2 except that it is made adjustable to accommodate different thicknesses of valve lill) :j j movement of the valve disk 34.

disk or to regulate the clearance between the valve disk and the gua-rd plate. To this end it will be seen that the central sup orting member of the guard plate is a s eeve 26 which is screw-threaded in the cen-ter of the guard plate and at its lower end bears upon the valve. seat .so that the guard plate is supported thereby. By turning the sleeve 26 in any suitable manner, as by means of inserting wrench prongs in the recesses 27, the sleeve may be turned and thereby advanced or withdrawn. In this manner the sleeve may be made to project a greater or less extent from the bottom of the guar-d plate and so the height at which the guard plate is held above the seat may be regulated.

Since in fluid rotated valves the wearing on Vthe sides lof the holes through the valves has a tendency to make the holes more and more oblong there have been provided conical projections 36 on the guard plate, here shown as fillets between the guard plate 23 and the guard plate hub 26, which engage with the chamfered edge 37 of the hole in the valve. The function of this feature is to cause the valve to be truly centered with each stroke or cycle of the valve.

Referring now to Fig. 8, the stem 28 supported from the hub of the valve seat 29 carries upon it a collar 30Vwhich is secured in position by means of a set-screw 3l entering into any one of the circumferential grooves 82 in the stem, the adjustment of the collar as to height above the valve seat being dependent on which one of the grooves the set-screw enters. The guard plate is supported by a central thimble 33, the upper edges of which engage the collar 30 to support the guard plate which slides upon the stem; The reason for providing the thimble is to permit the elevation of the stop collar 30 a sufficient distance upon the stem so as to avoid interference with the opening In the stem are cut longitudinal slots 35 which extend to within a short distance of the collar 30. The thimble. makes a ruiming lit about the stem and has a small clearance between it andthe collar 30. IVhen, therefore, the guard plate is raised on the opening of the valve fluid ma)7 enter through the `grooves into the recess bounded by the thimble, stem and collar 30. As the guard plate descends the fluid may flow out through the grooves 35 until at a point near the end of its downward travel the ends of the grooves 35 are reached. The fluid is then pocketed between the thimble, stem and collar and can -only escape between the lateral sides of thel collar and stem, and the thimble. This takes place slowly and so cushions the impact of the guard platein coming against its stop.

lVhile the invention has been illustrated in what are considered its best applications,

it may have other embodiments without departing from its spirit and so is not limited to the structures shown in the drawings.

vWhat I claim is 1. The combination with a reciprocat ing and iuid rotated valve, of a spring backing for the valve on which the valve is free to rotate and means for permitting water to enter between the backing and the valve upon the closing of the valve to form a liquid bearing for the rotating valve.

2. A valve seat having a huh and a rim, of ribs extending between the said hub and rim, said ribs having rectilinear warped surfaces each generated by a line maintained substantially parallel to a given plane and rectilinear transverse sections.

3. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocatable and rotatable valve adapted to co-operate therewith, a reciprocating guard plate for saidV valve, and means for supporting said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed.

et. The combination with a valve seat of a. reciprocatable and rotatable valve disk and a reciprocating guard plate, a hub or sleeve at the central part of the guard plate. said hub extending through said disk and bearing against the seat to support said plate out of contact with the disk.

5. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocatable and rotatable valve adapted to (zo-operate therewith, a reciprocating guard plate for said valve, and means for supporting said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed, and means for cushioning the impact of the guar-d plate on closing of the valve.

6. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocatabe and rotatable valve adapted to co-operate therewith, a reciprocating guard plate for said valve, and means for support:- ing said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed, and means for causing the fluid expelled from between the said valve and guard plate to exert a turning force on the valve as the valve and guard plate are moved together in opening the valve.

7. The combination with a valve seat ot a reciprocataible and rotatable valve adapted to (to-operate therewith, a reciprocating guard. plate for said valve, aud means for supporting said `guard plate out of Contact with said valve when the valve is closed, said guard plate having channels therein forming angles with radii of the plate.

8. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocatable and rotatable valve adapted to (zo-operate. therewith, a reciprocating gua-rd plate for said valve and adjustable means for supporting said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed.

9. The combination with, a valve seat of' a llf) valve disk therefor, comprising elastic material containing a reinforcement of another material, a guard plate, and means for supporting said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed.

10. The combination with a valve seat having a hub, a rim, and inclined ribs between said hub and rim, of a reciprocatable and rotatable valve co-operating with said seat, a reciprocating guard plate for the valve, means for supporting said guard plate out of contact with said valve when the valve is closed and means for causing the Jduid between the guard plate and valve to exert a turning effect upon the valve when the said plate and valve are moved toward each other.

11. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocating valve co-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a hub, a rim, and ribs between the said hub and rim, each of the said ribs having a warped surface generated by a straight line as generatrix said line being substantially parallel to the fluid stream and with one of the two directrices being a straight line.

12. The combination wit-h a valve seat ot a reciprocating` valve cve-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a hub, a rim and ribs between the said hub and rim, each of the said ribs having a warped surface generated by a straight line as a generatrix said line being sub-stantially parallel to the fluid stream and with one of the two directrices being a curved line.

13. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocating valve co-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a hub, a rim and ribs between the said hub and rim, each of the said ribs having a warped surface generated by a straight line as generatriX said line being substantially parallel to the fluid stream and one of the directrices being a straight line and the other a curved line.

14C. The combination with valve seat of reciprocating valve cto-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a hub, a rim and ribs between the said hub and rim, each et said ribs having a w-arped surface generated by a straight line as generatrix, said line being substantialy parallel to the Huid stream, the two directrices being on the same side of the hub.

15. The combination with a valve seat ot a reciprocating valve co-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a. hub, a rim and ribs between the said hub and rim, each of the said ribs having a warped surface generated by a straight line as generatriX, said line being substantially parallel to the fluid stream, one of the directrices passing substantially to one side of the axis of the seat that is, being non-radial.

16. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocating valve co-operating therewith, said valve seat comprising a hub, a rim and ribs between the said hub and rim, each of the said ribs having a warped surface generated by a straight line as generatrix, said line being substantially parallel to the fluid stream, and the directrices passing substantially aside from the axis of the hub, that is being non-radial.

17. The combination with a valve seat of a reciprocating valve, a stationary guide for said valve, there being a clearance between said valve and guide and means for centering the valve with relation to the seat.

18. The combination with a valveI seat, of a reciprocating and rotating valve disk, a reciprocating guard plate and a stem eX- tending through said disc and plate, said plate and disk being relatively movable and said plate having a projection engaging said valve to center it.

19. The combination with a valve seat of a stem extending therefrom; a valve disc and a guard plate mounted to reciprocate on said stem, said guard plate having a hub or sleeve extending `into the disc to form a bearing on the stem as a guide for said guard late.

20. valve Seat having a hub and rim of ribs extending between the said hub and rim; each of said ribs having a. warped surface generated by a straight line maintained substantially parallel to a given plane.

In testimony whereof l have signed this specification this 26th day of December,

ALFRED V. SIMS. 

